For Quarter's Sake

Anyone who read my previous blog about my Hurricane Sandy adventure, may have a hard time believing that once again I have a story to share about keys -- car keys. Well, it's true, although this story is more particularly about a quarter, and thank goodness it's not the epic length of the previous blog. But I really must do something about my relationship with cars. : )

Yesterday, as I was getting out my car, I saw a quarter lying on the floor mat. Placing my briefcase on the roof, I stooped to pick up the quarter and tucked it into a little storage compartment. Then I closed the door – only to realize that the keys were lying on the driver’s seat, and the door was locked. Fortunately, I lucked out: only the driver's door was locked. The other doors were unlocked, so I climbed into the back seat, reached over the driver’s seat and grabbed the keys. So far, so good.

Now, I wanted to lock all the car doors, and that can be done easily by pushing a button located on the driver’s door. But trying to reach that button from the back seat proved incredibly frustrating, since my long arm carried my fingers to within a quarter-inch from the button -- but no closer. Several attempts at stretching and straining in the most uncomfortable positions led to deeper frustration, all the while thinking how much easier and more efficient it would have been simply to have gotten out of the car and unlocked the driver’s door for easy access to the button.

Finally, with a few more creative contortions, my fingers reached the button. I pushed it, and all the doors locked. Then I got out, closed the rear door, and grabbed the briefcase that I had placed on the roof -- only to discover that its zipper tab was being pinched by the front door, so I couldn't lift the briefcase off the roof. It was stuck! That meant I had to unlock and open the front door -- the very thing I had been trying to avoid with all those arm-stretching contortions.

Having done all that, I released the briefcase, relocked and closed all the doors, and grabbed my briefcase again. That’s when I discovered that the briefcase was unzipped. Lifting it down, the lid swung open and out flew cell phone, wallet, keys, iPod, DVD’s, medicine, etc., scattering themselves all over the driveway!

There comes a point at which misfortune becomes so absurd the only appropriate response is laughter. And that’s exactly what I did, as I leaned back against the car for a minute and just laughed. Then I decided to write it all down for your entertainment pleasure.

There is, nevertheless, a happy ending to this story: that damn quarter is mine!